Michael Cole, the star who played Pete Cochran on “Mod Squad,” has died, Fox News Digital has confirmed. He was 84 years old.
Cole died Tuesday at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The cause of death has not been disclosed.
Cole's representative told Variety that Cole “lived a full and vibrant life and passed away peacefully this morning surrounded by his loved ones.”
Michael Cole, who starred in “The Mod Squad,” has died. (Getty Images)
Cole is best known for his role as one of three young detectives on ABC's “The Mod Squad” from 1968 to 1973. The series also starred Peggy Lipton and Clarence Williams III.
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The actor was born on July 3, 1940 and raised in Madison, Wisconsin. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Cole never knew his father. Cole, his brother, and his mother lived in their grandmother's house when they were young.
The newspaper said Cole started drinking at age 12 and was used to getting into trouble. At age 16, he dropped out of high school and married his girlfriend, who was pregnant with their first child. The former couple had two children, Candy and Jeff, before divorcing.
Michael Cole played Pete Cochran on “The Mod Squad.” (ABC Photo Archive/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
Michael Cole, pictured here in 1993, was 84 years old when he died on Tuesday. (Vinny Zufante/Getty Images)
Cole left Wisconsin and moved to Las Vegas, where he met Bobby Darin, then a singer and actor. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Cole later moved to Los Angeles and lived under a freeway.
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He then met acting coach Estelle Herman, who had a great influence on his life. Cole said in 2018 that Herman “realized what was out there before I did.” She gave him free acting lessons and allowed him to sleep in a bed on the workshop stage, the newspaper reported.
A few years later, producer Aaron Spelling contacted Cole and offered him a role in “The Mod Squad.”
Clarence Williams III and Michael Cole of “The Mod Squad.” (ABC Photo Archive/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
Cole detailed the encounter in his 2018 book, I Played The White Guy.
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“When Spelling offered to appear, I refused and told him:[The show] “I didn't want to play a guy who blamed other troubled kids,” Cole wrote in his book, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Michael Cole in the episode “The Color of Laughter”, which aired on October 12, 1971. (ABC Photo Archive/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
“The Mod Squad” aired for 123 episodes over five seasons. During his appearance on the show, Cole was involved in a serious accident in which he crashed through the windshield. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he required 130 stitches.
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Cole is survived by his third wife, Sherry Funes;
